Derby, Iowa
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Union Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50068. The Survey maps it on the Derby quadrangle. 90 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,079 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresDerby fell from 115 to 90 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 115 | |
| 2020 | 90 | -25 (-22%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 12 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1934 USGS Corydon quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1934 USGS Humeston quadrangle1:48000
- 1937 USGS Corydon quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Leon quadrangle1:100000
- 1982 USGS Derby quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
25 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 25 fires within 5 miles of Derby between 2006 and 2019, burning about 706 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 14 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 August 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 June 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 June 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 May 2013 | Debris and open burning | 50 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 April 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | S OF 60TH AND VALE IN WAYNE CO, IA |
| 4 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
18 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Derby in 18 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 5 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 4 heavy rain, 3 tornado. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2022 | Tornado (EF3) | Derby | 1 killed, 1 hurt, $1,500,000 | This tornado formed as two other tornadoes dissipated in southern Lucas county. The tornado moved to the northeast across rural areas of southern into central Lucas county primarily in wooded areas and cropland with little damage. Of note however, was a satellite tornado observed in chasing video (in seperate Storm Data entry) which developed north of the main tornado and moved south toward the main circulation, doing a complete revolution around the main tornado before being absorbed. Shortly afterwards, the tornado crossed State Highway 14 south of Chariton destroying a conservation center which was rated EF3. The tornado continued to the northeast removing a roof from a house along 235th Trail and passed through an open field before entering Red Haw State Park. The tornado ripped through a campground in the park with one fatality and one injury occurring. The tornado exited the park and crossed Highway 34 east of Chariton with numerous outbuildings and power poles damage or destroyed. The tornado then remained in rural wooded areas and cropland for the rest of its path with little additional damage noted. |
| September 2008 | Flash Flood | Derby | $100,000 | Water was covering many roads in western Lucas County. Water was over 135th Ave in Stevens Forest. Water was also reported in several basements over western Lucas County. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Derby | $50,000 | Public reported to law enforcement that thunderstorm winds damaged some outbuildings, and damage to a wall and siding of a house. A few large trees were uprooted as well, with some large limbs down as well. |
| June 1994 | Hail | Derby | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Derby | $20,000 | Numerous trees were damaged and siding ripped off of a barn by high winds. |
| June 2002 | Hail | Derby | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Derby | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Derby | $4,000 | Two large trees were blown down 1.5 miles northeast of Derby. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Derby | $2,000 | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Derby | - | Delayed report of hail up to golf ball size from the Derby Fire Department. The time of occurrence was estimated from radar. |
| March 2022 | Tornado (EFU) | Derby | - | This tornado moved into Lucas county from Wayne county. This portion of the tornado was documented via video from storm chasers and high resolution satellite imagery. The tornado had no documented interaction with damage indicators, hence the EFU rating. |
| March 2022 | Tornado (EFU) | Derby | - | Video from a storm chaser documented this tornado. This was a second satellite tornado to a larger tornado which had an earlier satellite tornado in Decatur and Wayne counties. This tornado remained in southern rural Lucas county and did not impact any damage indicators, hence the EFU rating. |
| July 2021 | Heavy Rain | Derby | - | A 24 hour rain total of 2.90 inches. |
| October 2018 | Flood | Derby | - | Iowa DOT reported US 65 closed due to flooding between County Road H50 and US 34. |
| July 2015 | Heavy Rain | Derby | - | Public reported heavy rainfall of 5.50 inches. |
| September 2014 | Heavy Rain | Derby | - | Rainfall of 4.6 inches. |
| August 2014 | Heavy Rain | Derby | - | Rainfall of 5.00 inches reported via Facebook. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Derby | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Chance | 5.4 miles | 7 | |
| Lucas | 6.7 miles | 11 | |
| Troy (historical) | 7.4 miles | 11 | |
| Whitebreast | 8.9 miles | 11 | |
| Indianola Junction | 9.2 miles | 11 | |
| Chariton | 9.8 miles | 11 | |
| Oakley | 12.6 miles | 11 | |
| Norwood | 12.8 miles | 11 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Derby | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1933732 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 455887. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.







